1 When Japan decides on militarism (Khaleej Times) Shinzo
Abe will be remembered in history as the man who changed Japan for good. Other
than his mark in economics, the Japanese prime minister has been pushing for an
assertive defence policy, and that meant dumping Article 9 of the constitution
that made the island-nation state a pacifist country.
The cabinet has approved a landmark change in
security policy, paving the way for its military to fight overseas. The ruling
party had earlier legislated the amendment through which the definition of
self-defence will now be read as ‘collective self-defence’. The move primarily
is China-specific as Tokyo is in a row over the East China Sea Islands. By
giving up its post-World War-II pacifist identity, Japan has come a long way in
reasserting itself in the region and this development is likely to stir
militaristic responses from its neighbours.
It is little known as to what would be the response
from the US that had shielded Japan since 1945. But it is widely assumed that
Washington will be happy to see another challenge for China in the region, and
that too on a self-help basis from the Japanese. As far as domestic policy is
concerned, Shinzo and his centre-right party is likely to face a tough time.
The policy of not going to war is embedded in Japanese psyche, especially after
the horrors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and it won’t be that easy to overcome
that trauma under the fissures of neo-imperialism in the region.
Abe’s arm-twisting was widely evident as he gave a
cold shoulder to visiting US Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel earlier this
year, urging him to categorically spell-out as to how to confront Chinese and
North Korean adventures in the new era. The argument was that as dragon roared,
Japan couldn’t be expected to sit idle and look the other way. If Abe goes
ahead and gets the nod from parliament, there won’t be any looking back for a
country that mesmerised the world with peace visions of its own for the last
six decades.
2 London house prices leap 25% (Hilary Osborne in
The Guardian) The average price of a property in London has leapt by more than
a quarter over the past year, a rate of growth unequalled since the summer of
1987, according to the latest figures from the UK's largest building society.
Prices in the capital rose by 25.8% between the
second quarter of 2013 and the same period this year, Nationwide said, pushing
the average to £400,404, the first time it has topped £400,000 and 30% higher
than the peak reached in 2007.
The figures are likely to fuel fears of a price
bubble in the capital, and come days after the Bank of England's Financial
Policy Committee said it would not take immediate action to constrain the
housing market. Property experts say this level of price growth was
unsustainable with one warning that "the risk of a damaging house price
correction at some point in the next few years is growing".
3 Shrinking middle class worries business leaders
(Robert Reich in San Francisco Chronicle) One business leader told me recently why
he was concerned about the shrinking middle class: "Because the American
middle class is the core of our customer base," he said. "If they
can't afford our products in the years ahead, we're in deep trouble." I'm
hearing the same refrain these days from a growing number of business leaders.
They see an economic recovery that's bypassing most
Americans. Median hourly and weekly pay dropped over the past year, adjusted
for inflation. Since the depths of the Great Recession in 2009, median real
household income has fallen 4.4 percent, according to an analysis by Sentier
Research. Business leaders know the US economy can't get out of first gear as
long as wages are declining. And their own businesses can't succeed over the
long term without a buoyant and growing middle class.
They also recognize a second danger: Job
frustrations are fueling a backlash against trade and immigration. Any hope for
immigration reform is now dead in Congress. The economy will be even worse if
America secedes into isolationism.
Several business leaders are suggesting raising the
minimum wage and increasing taxes on the wealthy. Many business leaders are
arguing for changes in the rules of the game that would make the game fairer
for everyone. They acknowledge it's now dangerously rigged in favor of people
like them. They know the only way to save capitalism is to make it work for the
majority rather than a smaller and smaller minority at the top.
In this respect they resemble the handful of
business leaders in the Gilded Age who helped spearhead the progressive reforms
enacted in the first decade of the 20th century, or those who joined with
Franklin D. Roosevelt to create Social Security, a minimum wage and the 40-hour
workweek during the Depression.
The dangers are a sinking middle class lacking the
purchasing power to keep the economy going, and an American public losing faith
that the system will deliver for them and their kids. America's real business
leaders understand that unless or until the middle class regains its footing
and its faith, capitalism remains vulnerable.
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